Officers faced with consequence of actions

May 8, 2008|By Charles Dale

Your editorial calling for more police enforcement of traffic laws, especially regarding motorcycles on the interstates, is admirable, but useless. Why? As a general rule, police in Florida are not allowed to pursue criminals except in cases of violent felonies - and most of those who violate or enjoy pushing the limits of the law know this. As a police officer in South Florida, I have heard officers break off pursuit of stolen cars when the suspects ran a red light, and I have had my patrol car passed by motorcycles doing over 100 mph on the interstate. To them, it is a game. They know we can't pursue.

Studies seem to be in agreement that there are about 300 to 350 people killed in pursuits each year. Two-thirds of them are the lawbreakers being pursued, 30 percent are people not involved in the chase at all, and the remainder, perhaps 5 percent, are officers. Everything is a compromise. There are consequences to all we do and all we do not do. As a society, we make laws for our protection, and we have choices. We can choose to enforce those laws and pursue lawbreakers; we can choose to not bother enforcing the law at all (many archaic laws have died a natural death that way); or we do what we have chosen to do in South Florida and enforce the law sometimes.

The problem for police is trying to decide at any given time what their job is. Let it go? Chase them? Will I lose my job? Will the lawyers come after me? Will the lawbreaker kill someone by running them off the road? All these questions compounded by the underlying question: Why are they running? Are they drug dealers in possession of their goods? Is the vehicle stolen and not yet reported? A felon in possession of a gun? Is there a kidnap victim in the trunk? Do they have blood on their hands right now, or is it "just" that they are driving on a suspended license? Not knowing makes the officer's decision easy: Don't chase, even though we know innocent people don't run.

The problem for society is, what makes us safer in the long run?

California law says police departments and officers cannot be held responsible for accidents caused by fleeing vehicles. They chase, and maybe Californians are safer for it. If we think so, perhaps we should consider a similar law. Our personal protection is ultimately up to ourselves, whether we choose to carry a concealed weapon or not, choose to be aware of our surroundings or not, lock our doors or not, or choose to permit our protectors to pursue or not.

If a law is worth making, it should be worth enforcing. Officers are willing, but they should not be asked to do something for which they will be punished if something goes wrong.